Monday, July 4, 2011

Fred G. Bond Metro Park

What it is: Over the long holiday weekend, our family wanted to head outside and have some fun in the sun. So, we ventured over to Cary to check out Bond Park. We were pleasantly surprised that from S. Durham, the drive time wasn't any longer than to North Durham. Once there, we had initially planned to head to the playground first, but found ourselves pleasantly diverted by several other fun activities. First, we noticed the trails, so we had to check them out. Bond Park has several great trails looping through it. We chose the Paw Paw Trail because it was the shortest at 1 mile long, and you never know how long toddler and baby attention spans will be. Sure enough, a mile was just about right, and after some great fun tromping through dirt trails, coasting with the baby walker on wide paved trails, and stopping to play at some of the fitness trail stations we had a dirty diaper and a toddler in need of a restroom break.

Fortunately, we had found ourselves at the boat house. Bond Park has a great lake complete with several boating and fishing options. The boathouse also had some nice picnic tables and sold refreshments including sno cones! After we had all freshened up a bit, we figured we had to take advantage of the boating opportunities, so against my better judgment we piled the whole family in life jackets and onto a rowboat. The lake was lovely and we saw quite a few people out fishing and using other boats like kayaks and paddleboats. It actually turned out to be a great boat trip and we spotted several birds including a heron, some geese, and some ducks.

After our boating outing and a lovely picnic lunch at some shaded tables near the boathouse we finally decided to check out that playground, and it didn't disappoint. They had two play structures-a bigger and a smaller one, a sand box area, separate sets of bucket and regular swings, and some bouncy ride-on figures. It was a great way to finish up our adventure in the park.

What we liked: We loved how there was so much to explore. We didn't even get a chance to check out the ampitheater, ball fields, community center, or ropes course. The prices were also quite reasonable for the boating options with our rowboat excursion only costing $5.

What we would change: Our only piece of advice would be to possibly take a map. The park is large and it would have been nice to have a map with us so we knew where we were all the time. That being said, most of the park was well-marked and we always found our way to our destinations without a map. At the time of day we stopped by, the playground was also mostly in the sun so it was a bit hot. However, it was surrounded by shady trees if we needed a break from the sun.

Me again. I took my kids canoeing at Bond Park yesterday. It was great! Afterwards we had lunch at the fabulous La Farm Bakery, which is just down the street at 4248 Cary Parkway. Kids meals are just over $2. Thanks again for the great suggestion.